Question

Unification of Poland

Answer 1

The period of rule by the Piast dynastybetween the 10th and 14th centuries is the first major stage of the history of the Polish nation. The dynasty was founded by a series of dukes listed by the chronicler Gallus Anonymous in the early 12th century: Siemowit, Lestek and Siemomysł. It was Mieszko I, the son of Siemomysł, who is now considered the proper founder of the Polish state at about 960 AD.[1] The ruling housethen remained in power in the Polish lands until 1370. Mieszko converted to Christianityof the Western Latin Rite in an event known as the Baptism of Poland in 966, which established a major cultural boundary in Europe based on religion. He also completed a unification of the West Slavic tribal lands that was fundamental to the existence of the new country of Poland.[2]

Following the emergence of the Polish state, a series of rulers converted the population to Christianity, created a kingdom of Poland in 1025 and integrated Poland into the prevailing culture of Europe. Mieszko's son Bolesław I the Brave established a Roman Catholic Archdiocese in Gniezno, pursued territorial conquests and was officially crowned in 1025 as the first king of Poland. The first Piast monarchy collapsed with the death of Mieszko II Lambert in 1034, followed by its restoration under Casimir I in 1042. In the process, the royal dignity for Polish rulers was forfeited, and the state reverted to the status of a duchy. Duke Casimir's son Bolesław II the Bold revived the military assertiveness of Bolesław I, but became fatally involved in a conflict with Bishop Stanislaus of Szczepanów and was expelled from the country.[2]

Bolesław III, the last duke of the early period, succeeded in defending his country and recovering territories previously lost. Upon his death in 1138, Poland was divided among his sons. The resulting internal fragmentation eroded the initial Piast monarchical structure in the 12th and 13th centuries and caused fundamental and lasting changes.

Konrad I of Masovia invited the Teutonic Knights to help him fight the Baltic Prussianpagans, which led to centuries of Poland's warfare with the Knights and the German Prussian state.[2]

In 1320, the kingdom was restored under Władysław I the Elbow-high, then strengthened and expanded by his son Casimir III the Great. The western provinces of Silesia and Pomerania were lost after the fragmentation, and Poland began expanding to the east. The period ended with the reigns of two members of the Capetian House of Anjou between 1370 and 1384. The consolidation in the 14th century laid the base for the new powerful kingdom of Poland that was to follow.[2]

Answer 2

Poland didn't exist in the 19th century as an independent nation. It had been conquered and divided up in the 18th century by Prussia, Austria, and Russia. The part that belonged to Russia included Warsaw and was referred to as the "Kingdom of Poland" with the Russian Czar as "King of Poland", but this was just legalistic fiction. It was a province of the Russian Empire. 

In the 20th century, modern Poland was formed by the allied powers at after World War I. 

It was carved out of pieces of Russia, Germany (Prussia), and Austria-Hungary. Incidentally, these are the nations that carved up the original Polish nation in the 1700s. 

Russia was originally an allied power, but in 1917, the communists took over and gave a huge chunk of their Western territory to the Germans in return for peace. The allies used part of this territory to create Poland. The rest became a base for the anti-communist White Russian forces during the Russian civil war. The White Russians eventually lost and the remaining territory went to the communists. They tried to take the Polish territory back by force in the 1920s, but, with allied help, the Poles beat them off. The allied powers all wanted to end communism even at that early point. Poland was carved up between Germany and USSR in 1939 at the start of World War II. 

Joseph Stalin, the ruler of the USSR, refused to return his half of Poland. It was absorbed into the Soviet Republic of Belarus. 

To make up for this, a further section of Germany was added on to Poland's Western border. So you could say, at the end of World War II, they picked up Poland and moved it west several hundred miles.